By Natalie Khor
Averaging approximately 3 hours of sleep between them, Tia
Emmanuel (9), Ee Rynn Ong (9), Yewon Lee (9), and Jonathan Ooi (9) crawled up
out of bed in the wee hours of the morning to watch the sunrise that other
students who had previously been to the Lost Paradise resort vouched to be stunning—they
were not disappointed. The sky was covered in swatches of purples and pinks, a
sight they quickly captured with their phones, only to realize that the camera
could never do it justice.
Just the night before, students at the Leadership Retreat
enjoyed dinner together in the conference room, followed by a session with Mr.
Penland on effective and ineffective leadership. “[The talk] made me think a
lot about why I wanted to be here,” commented Tia. “It helped me get more ideas
on aspects I need to improve on.”
On the morning of the second day, drowsy students who stumbled
into the conference room were greeted with roti canai and milo, a satisfying
meal that left them energized and ready for the first session of the day:
problem-solving with Ms. Wood. She prepared envelopes with actual circumstances
that previous student leaders dealt with and had each committee brainstorm ways
they would respond. Many of the crises were shocking. “The one where the
presidents were expelled was insane,” exclaimed Jia Ru Sim (11). Other
situations included expelled acting leads a week before JSB, the death of a
classmate, and more.
For Rebecca Wong (10), the last session of the retreat was
her favorite. “We’ve been with our own ExCom the whole time, and so I really
liked the picture [activity] because it was something we all did together,” said
Rebecca. Mrs. White prepared 30 sheets of pictures distributed among the
students that all connected into a story and had them get into the correct
chronological order without showing each other their images. Chaos ruled the room
initially, but things slowly became organized as people practiced effective
communication and active listening, both important takeaways from the activity.
The retreat ended with a friendly puzzle box challenge
between each committee, with the PAL committee emerging as the victor. While
the other groups crowded around the tables puzzling over their clues, PAL
happily snacked on the Airheads and Starbursts they found after they unlocked
their box.
After two years of on-campus and online leadership retreats,
it was a blessing to finally have one at Lost Paradise once again. Student
leaders emerged from this retreat not only more prepared and enthusiastic for
the year to come but also sated from the endless meals and snacks provided over
this 24-hour trip.
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